Nelson gave her a good look, assessing her completely before smiling and stretching his own hand to shake hers.
"The pleasure is mine," he said and Brenda gave a sly smile. Innocent Charlotte did not notice the prolonged handshake or instantly developed chemistry between the two.
That was the first time Brenda was meeting Nelson Grill in person. Charlotte kept most people at arm's length, even if they were her friends. But she and Brenda just recently began to bond more closely than any other.
Brenda had always cajoled Charlotte to introduce her to her Nelson she'd not stop blabbering about.
That was officially their first meeting and one that Charlotte came to regret in the future.
_____
Nelson sat up, butt naked, shoving his finger through his scattered hair. With a sigh, he raised a brow.
"Oh, you're back," Nelson said in a chilled manner. Charlotte could not stand his nonchalant words. How could he be so calm after she had found him in bed with her best friend?
She glared at him. She still couldn't believe her eyes.
"Charlotte it's not what you think," Brenda repeated.
"It's exactly what you think, Charlotte." Nelson corrected. "Stop trying to explain yourself. And yes, we've been fucking for long even before she moved in with us."
"Nelson," Charlotte called out to him in what sounded like a whisper. Her knees were gradually growing weak.
"Why wouldn't I go for a girl who satisfies me? Since you've chosen to be a saint, I couldn't help going for an open option. You can keep up with that for all I care but I can't continue."
"But I gave you my word." Charlotte said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Huh,"
"I promised to let you, but only when we are married." Charlotte said.
All this time... he seemed happy with the idea. And had even boasted about having his wife a virgin.
But the look he had in his eyes as she said those words made it evident that it had all been pretense and nothing more.
"Listen, let's not deceive ourselves," With that, he got out of the bed and grabbed his bathrobe. "There's no man who would put up with a girlfriend who won't even give him pleasure. You had it coming, I tell ya."
He walked past her, brushed shoulders with her, and clicked his tongue.
"Don't act pathetic. It doesn't look good on you."
He left the room, and Charlotte fell to the floor, breaking down in hot tears and mumbling words to herself.
Brenda anxiously and silently left with a swift movement. She couldn't even look Charlotte in the eyes because she knew she had just done the deed that would sever their relationship for good.
After crying for a while and mumbling to herself, asking what she had done wrong, Charlotte got up abruptly, packed her belongings, and left the house.
To think she would be used in such a manner. She couldn't take it. And she couldn't even focus on her heartbreak either as she needed to take care of her mom.
So, to save her mom, she sold her mom's most expensive possessions. The gold earrings she had gotten from her late rich boss, years ago. She had sold it at the exact price she needed to complete the payment to an appraiser down the street.
"Glad that you could raise the money before it was too late, Miss Charlotte," The nurse who was leading Charlotte to her mom's unit said, but Charlotte had been spacing out for a while.
She was the only one left as Jeffery had gone home to tend to their Grandma whose blood pressure was alarmingly rising thanks to stress.
"How's she? How did it go?" Charlotte asked eagerly for an answer.
"Relax miss, she will be fine. But since she is currently unconscious and can go into a coma, there's no telling how her condition may progress or regress. There will be subsequent surgeries but this would keep her out of danger. We hope she will be out of a coma soon." The Doctor explained.
"Can... Can you tell me what really caused all this, Doctor?" Charlotte asked.
"Your mom has a tumor in her head." He answered and Charlotte froze up.
"Brain tu...tumor?!" she stuttered.
"Yes, but it had been dormant for quite some time. But recently, stress and overthinking woke up the tumor and it has been growing gradually for over a month." He explained further. "Thus, resulting in her sudden stroke and collapse. And in the process of that collapse, she cracked her skull resulting in internal injuries."
Charlotte's heart broke hearing all this. It was too much.
The Brown's breadwinner, her mother, had entered a vegetable state.
"Now, we would like you to fill out the consent form to get the tumor removed. Just pay the sum right here," he tapped his pen on the file. "And we will commence right away."
Charlotte looked at the form and the fee. It was too much. How in the world was she going to pay for this?
No, she had to come up with a way. She decided to take loans, take on a lot of jobs, and borrow from family relatives.
She had to do something. If not, her mother would die.
She cried.
She did just that, amounting to a lot of loans and debts, but she didn't care. As long as her mother could her better.
The surgery was a success, but months passed, and her mother still wasn't waking up.
She wasn't showing any signs of waking up either.
The hospital kept her under strict observation with the large sum she had deposited but that wasn't enough. She needed to deposit such large sums monthly and also feed herself, her grandmother, and Jeffrey.
It was all too much but she would bear with it all.
Present day
When she got that sum in checks, though she hated herself for sleeping with a man she had little to no idea about, she was glad she had not torn the checks.
At least with it, 80% of her problems were solved, and she didn't need to keep facing those crazy guys who loaned her money with incredibly high principles and interest.
She had pleaded a lot to be given more time but it was like a chain around her neck. She felt so defenseless and weak.
But thanks to this, she could finally take off that chain.
Who would've known such a huge sum could come so easily?
She shut her eyes and bit her lips. She felt horrible for thinking that way.
"Mum, were doing quite well and awaiting your return." She said but there was no response, as always. "We miss you." Her eyes grew teary but she cleaned it with her palms and took in a deep breath. "I'll come to see you again sometime soon." She said. "I do hope you get well soon.